At morning I went to the attic, I was searching for a book in an old box, while searching I found my old blue file. It was partly covered with dust, I cleared it and then opened, there I found the collection of articles of about 10-12 years old which I used to cut from the magazines and newspaper. And then I sat down on a muda(handcrafted Nepalese stool) near the room and while going through the articles of those back days, it gave me a nostalgic vibe.
When I was in primary school, I was curious about celestial bodies, galaxies and universe. During school time I used to visit library often to read Nat Geo and Discovery magazines. On those days televisions and magazines were the source of information and internet wasn’t familiar, the only thing I remember is; internet used to be dial-up network connection and I think 90’s kids and elderly people know the meaning of struggle to open google with speed of few Kbps.
I loved those illustrations and high resolution images of planets, galaxies on glossy paper of magazines. Though I was amateur to understand about complex articles in the magazines, it was quite enough to ignite curiosity. Looking at the night sky I used to wonder how come those powerful high resolution images can be captured on space by a satellite and sent back to earth. Foremost, the question which always used to strike on my mind was; Does life exists on another planet?
On 6th of January 2006, Nasa’s New Horizon was on headlines all over the world, I read on the newspaper that it’ll take approximately 10 years to reach Pluto, for a moment I thought that 10 years is way too long but it was exactly the opposite as time passed so swiftly that I could hardly notice. When New Horizon Probe blasted off on January 2006, Pluto was a “Planet” and seven months later International Astronomical Union (IAU) demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet during a general meeting in Prague.
On those days, I was more confused as I didn’t know the exact reason for Pluto to be downgraded to a dwarf planet. Few months later I purchased a science magazine which described the reason behind it. Many dwarf planets were discovered on that time and scientist were occupied with one thought that our solar system will consist 100 planets after the decade. The definition not only lead to the relegation of Pluto but also of other discovered planets like objects as Ceres and Eris(formerly known as 2003 UB313). Futhermore they bought a new term known as Plutoid for those dwarf planets.
By the definition of planet it must follow 3 rules:
- It must orbit around the Sun,
- It should have sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
- It has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
Pluto met the first two of the these criteria, but the last one proved pivotal. “Clearing the neighbourhood” means that the planet has either “vacuumed up” or ejected other large objects in its vicinity of space. In other words, it has achieved gravitational dominance.
For 76 years it was a planet and suddenly they relegated Pluto to dwarf planet. Only 10% of the 2,700 scientists who had attended the 10-day meeting were present at the Pluto vote. The low turn-out has been blamed on timing; the vote was held on the last day of the General Assembly when many participants had left or were preparing to fly out from Prague.
As years passed, New Horizon was getting closer to Pluto and it crossed many planets and other dwarf planets. During the time lap of 10 years from the first take off, we saw many changes and events during this time lap in our life. On those days I was an adolescent boy and now I’m an adult, it feels like as if time passed in a blink of an eye. Yet, I find this very fascinating and exciting journey.
On July 2015, New Horizon was near the vicinity of Pluto. It was flying over 7,800 mile above the Pluto creating history. It is a milestone for human species, it is unveiling more information about the Pluto. It has crossed three-billion-mile which is a long journey indeed. Since the awakening of Pluto, discussion has occurred again which has brought challenge to scientists as data from the New Horizons space probe has shown Pluto to be geologically active, bringing new question to status of Pluto. Though Pluto has been declared as a planet by public votes on 2014 but still officially it is still a dwarf planet.
On 2006, I cut that article from the newspaper and till now my journey from one country to another country and adaptation to the environment with different people and their thinking was more of a challenge. Time has brought a great change in minds of people, we saw change in status of Pluto where it was a planet and then it was downgraded and it’s process of re-installation as a planet in our solar system. If reviving of Pluto as a planet doesn’t seem to be right then re-classification of definition about Planet must be done again. As there are many dwarf planets in our solar system which is similar to planets but are demoted due to a mere definition. New Horizon played vital role in changing the mind of astro-physicist and astronomer who were misguided by false hypothesis as astonishing images and data has shown that Pluto is a big mystery which is yet to be solved. And by each day it is giving us surprises. Time has proved it’s worth, time has changed many things then and now.
Though Pluto has been declared as a planet once again by people’s choice. I hope one day Pluto will be re-installed as a planet officially. The piece of article is still with me and i love it because I’m a small part of history as my childhood is connected with it 🙂
P.S: Thank you for reading, feel free to comment and don’t miss to observe the Total super lunar Eclipse on 27th of September, 2015
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